CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
August 17, 1967
Page 22961
Mr. KENNEDY of New York. . . . Under a similar loan of $10 million which is already in effect in Chile, that nation will be able to provide secondary schooling for one-third of its children by 1970 -- without sector loan support, it would take three times as long to achieve this goal.
The funds already working in Chile and Honduras constitute a total equal to about two-thirds of the loan authority which the committee deleted. Thus, what the cut means, in effect, is that three more programs of similar scope, three more efforts in other countries, will now be impossible.
I think it clear that the need for education requires us to support these programs by restoring the reduction in the loan authorization. We must not curtail our efforts at a time when they are critical to galvanize the efforts of other nations.
Second, the remaining $30 million is to be used in agricultural improvement. Ambitious programs have already begun to revolutionize agriculture, to increase productivity, to aid farmers in self-improvement, and to stabilize food prices. The full impact of these reductions is hard to measure. But it is clear that farm credit, so important in enabling farmers to purchase seed, chemicals, fertilizers, and tools, would be denied to 100,000 farmers throughout the continent.
Further, the curtailing of commodity storage facilities, and access to market programs, will reduce the supply of available food, thus raising prices for more than 1 million consumers -- at the same time lowering farm income. The AID estimates -- conservatively -- that these cuts will be responsible for a loss of 500,000 extra tons of food production which is badly needed. The modest amount involved therefore has great significance.
Third, the $10 million cut in technical assistance grants will impede -- specifically and immediately -- ambitious and promising projects of regional economic and social integration which grew out of the April summit. Plans are now underway to develop a Latin American regional science program, to be administered by a Latin American science foundation; a project for educational television; and an exploration of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The $10 million technical assistance cut will seriously curtail all of these projects.
None of these programs -- in education, agriculture, or new technologies -- are "showcase projects."
They imply no military pacts or questionable commitments. They do not even represent a new economic effort since -- even if this amendment is adopted -- the 1968 authorization will still be $100 million below what we authorized last year far 1968. The restoration only gives to the administration the funds it knows it can use. They are aimed as directly as possible at helping to redeem that special pledge that we offered a continent 6 years ago.
I share the concern expressed by the committee at the conduct of our foreign policy. But I am also concerned that Latin America not believe we are faltering in our commitment.
The Committee's action in erasing the 1969 authorization will be taken by some in the hemisphere as disturbing evidence that our resolve is weakening, that we do not after all, intend to convert our good words into deeds -- it suggests to them that we are unwilling to fulfill the long term goals we ourselves helped set for the hemisphere.
How much more discouraging will it be if we reduce our aid in those very areas where the need is greatest -- and where the promise has been born?
Six years ago the trumpet summoned us to bear the burden of a long, twilight struggle against the common enemies of man. On the eve of the Alianza's sixth anniversary -- in Latin America and through the world -- that trumpet still sounds -- and it should not sound retreat.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from New York yield to the Senator from Maine for a question?
Mr. KENNEDY of New York. I yield.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. The Senator from New York has made a case that needs to be made. I was interested, last week and early this week, in the debate on the wisdom of our policy in making American arms available to Latin American countries. A great deal of concern was expressed in the argument, opposing our current policy in that respect, to the effect that such sales operated to divert needed resources of those countries from economic development that they needed to the military development that it was said they did not need. The Senator is addressing himself to that problem of economic development.
It is a curious thing to me that so many of those who fought American military policy, for the reasons I have outlined, also supported cuts which will have the unfortunate effects on economic aid to Latin America which the Senator from New York has described.
I was particularly moved as I listened to the Senator's reference to the fact that what we are talking about is a population which increasingly will be made up of young people. What we are talking about is what we should do as a country in helping to shape that future and the opportunities that these young people will have in that future.
So the cuts which are made, and the setbacks that will result from those cuts, will have longstanding effects on our ability to influence these young people of today and the world in which they will live tomorrow.
We must do what we can to insure that the thrust of their lives is toward progress for themselves, and the kind of stability and order which is the product of social justice. We should apply such resources as we can, to the purpose of maximizing our influence in a world that otherwise will generate a potential for the explosion of human frustrations.
I congratulate the Senator on his speech.
Mr. KENNEDY of New York. I thank the Senator from Maine for his words. I think he has put his finger on the fundamental problem. It is not just a question of what will happen next year or during the next 6 months. What we are dealing with here is the need to try to prevent a major crisis or a major conflagration 10 or 20 years from now. Money spent now can save many lives, and much money a decade or two decades from now.
Mr. HART. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. KENNEDY of New York. I yield.
Mr. HART. As the Senator from Maine has said, the Senator from New York has made a case which should be made and must be made, and I hope it persuades us, the Senate, to support his amendment.
Earlier today I placed in the RECORD a very brief speech of welcome to a very important group of visitors to our Nation's Capital from Latin America. I made the point that they were not statesmen or dignitaries, nor movie stars or actors. They were young men and women who were winners of a hemispherewide essay contest on the Alliance for Progress. They come from nations as huge as Brazil and as small as El Salvador.
But a speech of welcome to these young people is worth precisely the paper it is written on in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. We will respond to their future needs and the needs of our own children best by supporting the appeal the Senator from New York now makes by restoring this money to the Alliance for Progress.
I said this group of visitors we entertained today contained no statesmen, politicians, or economists, but I should have said "not yet." They will be the leaders of their nations in the lifetime of our own children; and our measure of support to assist these nations today, in educating the young people such as we have in the galleries at this moment, will be history's best test as to the wisdom of our judgment.
I congratulate the Senator from New York. I support his amendment, and urge my colleagues to support it.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. KENNEDY of New York. I yield.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President, I have traveled extensively throughout Central and South America. I think there is no area in the world of greater importance to the United States than the area of our own hemisphere.
I think the distinguished Senator from New York struck the right key when he said we ought to do these things because it is right to do so.
I think no one who knows the facts can help but be very much impressed with the tremendous needs and suffering and unfulfilled aspirations of the people of Central and South America, the people for whom the Alliance for Progress was designed.
Therefore, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may be shown as a cosponsor of the pending amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. GORE in the chair). Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. KENNEDY of New York. I thank the Senator from Oklahoma.
How much time is left, Mr. President?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 15 minutes remaining.